Readings:
Hosea 11: 1-4,8-9
Matthew 10: 7-15
Reflection
Today’s readings embrace a call to surrender ourselves with hope and trust in our ever faithful and loving God. The message from Hosea is very powerful and poignant in this time of Covid. People are more afraid and scared of getting the virus, let alone what will happen to them. It leads people away from their core values, beliefs and practice. They seem to lack lustre in the sense that they care more about themselves than others and behave in a way that is often foreign to them.
Hosea calls Israel and us, to come back to faith in our God, who ever ready to accept us, care for us, understand us and lead us to ways that create resilience and fundamental love and service for others.
The gospel tells us what will happen when we embrace this call to serve and be an instrument of bringing others to Jesus. It will cost us but in a real ways it will free us and allow us live in trust and faith that God will be with us. As the great mystic, St John of the Cross wrote, “I walk in dark and secure”.
Paul Traynor is married to Clare and has two children Sam and Lucy. He lives in Greytown which is in the Wairarapa Region on the North Island of New Zealand. Paul is currently working as the National Passionist Family Groups Coordinator for Aotearoa, New Zealand.